It had come to the attention of certain beings who lived in a place beyond places in another dimension, that there were infants in a newly discovered dimension who kept that fact hidden and only exercised their right to be a baby in secret.

It had, therefore, become necessary to set up a brigade of volunteer women to serve as the liberators of the secret babies. They called themselves: The Nana Patrol. This is their story and the story of the very first client they chose.

“What?” asked Jholmi. “I’m sorry, Yulvos, I didn’t understand what you said. I thought you said you’d found a dimension that has a planet where babies have to stay hidden all their lives.”

“That’s exactly what I said!” said Yulvos. “I knew you wouldn’t believe it. The entire rest of their dimension seems to be like every planet in ours, but this one planet doesn’t seem to accept babies. They seem to demand that everyone in the world grow up into adults and give up babyish ways.”

Jholmi was stunned, finally saying, “This … isn’t normal. It’s not healthy! How long has this planet been like this?”

“For its entire history, as far as I can tell,” Yulvos said. “There are a few babies who try to stay babies, but only in private -- there’s a lot of social pressure to conform.”

“They can’t be themselves in public?” Jholmi asked, aghast. “How do they survive?”

“Some better than others, but it isn’t easy. I was wondering …”

“We should help them!” Jholmi suggested.

“Exactly what I was wondering,” replied Yulvos. “We can get others to work with us. I’m not sure what we can do against an entire planet of billions, but we can at least make life easier for the poor babies who are suffering.”

“Yes! I’ll spread the word,” said Jholmi. “What will we have to do? Besides traveling to that dimension and that world.”

“Well, this world appears to have two main biological sexes and two main associated genders, though there are many variations, so we will have to assume the forms and mannerisms of caring figures that they will accept.”

“Easy enough with the Transmotron.”

Yulvos nodded. “We’ll need an energy lifeline, but we can use the Ergonaut until we’ve established energy transducers on this planet. Then we won’t need it anymore.”

“Very well,” said Jholmi. “My current project is classifying the physical law structures of the many dimensions, but it can wait. There are people who need help!”

And so it was that Yulvos became Yolanda, Jholmi became Jane, and many other volunteers from their planet took on the roles of Nanas -- male, female, and other -- to find and help those of the planet Earth who secretly wanted never to grow up. They called themselves … the Nana Patrol.

Tony sat in his chair at the office and reluctantly completed the boring report on the sales of the many types of silicates his company sold. A large smile was on his face as he kept remembering the pleasure it had brought him to put on a very thick Babykins crawley diaper and the cute Pixie dress and frilly rumba panties he had bought from that place online, Babies of all Ages.

The outfit was made exactly to the measurements he had given them. To his utter astonishment, the diaper and outfit were made exactly the same way as the identical outfit he had found in Xmart’s infantware section. As a matter of fact, that very outfit was what had given him the idea for what he wanted. The faint smell of baby powder still lingered on his skin. Many of the female employees noticed his new “aftershave” and commented on how nice it was.

As Tony put the final figures into the computer and pushed the print button, he was positive of the way he was going to sleep tonight.

An alarm went off, and a large red strobe began to flash as the brand new interdimensional infant tracker began to indicate their first ever discovered secret baby. All the Nanas grew excited, as they were about to embark on a bold new and extremely wonderful endeavor, sure to benefit the people of a terribly disadvantaged planet.

The team was selected, briefed, and dressed appropriately for the task. The brand new dimensional portal was readied and tested extensively. None of them wanted to be lost within the void between dimensions, so all waited patiently until the all-clear was given to board the machine.

“Portal/Transmotron testing 15% complete,” said the computer’s pleasant, neutral voice. In the waiting room, “Nana Yolanda” and “Nana Jane” were showing each other “pictures” of how they would “look” on this planet, “Earth.”

“So interesting,” Yolanda said. “Your … ‘skin,’ it’s called, is so light when seen with the Earth-humans’ visible light sensors, not dark like mine. There are other planets with similar variations. There are so many kinds of diversity!”

“That’s true -- planet Fiorex from dimension 33A889 has people with a variety of different outer sonic texture layers,” said Jane. “Of course, that dimension doesn’t have this ‘light’ that Earth’s dimension has.”

“Well, Earth is in dimension 7M273, right?” asked Yolanda. “That’s a strong-electro-weak-grav dimension, so they have a great variety of senses available to them -- not as great as an S dimension, though.”

“Portal/Transmotron testing 50% complete,” the computer said.

“Have you been assigned a baby yet?” asked another Nana, whose name would be “Nate” on planet Earth.

“Yes,” said Yolanda. “‘Her’ name is ‘Laynie Watson.’ I’m told that ‘she’ is a ‘female.’ Apparently she has a psychological preference for a female caretaker. She seems to prefer male sexual partners but conceals her continuing infancy from them.”

“So interesting,” Nate said, “Mine is named ‘Troy Alameda.’ They say ‘he’ is a ‘male’ and prefers male companionship. Sometimes he has explored his baby side with sexual partners since his body matured, but he still conceals his ongoing adult infancy from most of Earth society.”

“My baby is named ‘Tony Howard,’” said Jane. “This one is complicated to describe in our terms. ‘His’ preference is for female caretakers, but his internal gender is different from his presented gender in the false adult life he is living. I believe he may be ‘transgender,’ but society has discouraged him from exploring this aspect just as it has suppressed his continuing infancy.”

“Portal/Transmotron testing 85% complete,” said the computer.

“It’s getting close,” said Yolanda. “Are you excited?”

“Oh, yes!” said Jane. “I really want to make a difference in someone’s life. They’ve grown to adulthood thinking that they had to conceal that they’re really still babies! It’s just so unfair. I mean, I’m a baby, and imagine if there were any derision or social stigma associated with that! I can go around in public wearing zyxxnoids and with a yorgulator in my nyxlar, and that’s just fine, but imagine if that were unacceptable, as if I were some kind of murderer! How horrible!”

“I know,” said Nate. “I understand Earth also has discrimination against people who have attractions to those of the same ‘sex’ … as well as people with skin colors different from those prevalent in the region.”

“Imagine being so primitive!” said Yolanda. “Will your skin color be a problem, Jane?”

“I hope not,” Jane said. “But then again, we’ve all been physically composed and paired based on compatibility profiles, so it’s unlikely we’ll be sent to places where our assigned appearances will be a problem …”

The portal opened, a simple doorway into what must be a human residence with a bit of a glow around the outside. Jane checked her supply container and instrument cache, then stepped through.

Tony had just gotten all snuggly and comfy in his new super-thick “crawly diaper” and lacy baby outfit. He lay in the makeshift playpen he had bought from Builder’s Depo. Just as the much awaited wonderful infantile feeling began to slowly infiltrate him as the suppositories melted, a really weird thing happened. A line of light appeared in the wall across the room. Some sort of thing that looked like a door opened.

Tony sat up, totally amazed, and somewhat fearful as a woman, dressed exactly as he imagined his Nana to be, stepped from the brightly glowing door from nowhere.

Tony tried to talk, “Wha … wh … what you? Who you?” he stammered as he looked wide eyed at this seeming apparition. She had long black hair and wore a cornflower-blue flouncy dress with a square neckline, trimmed in white lace, with a pinafore-style apron over it, and she had what looked like a pink diaper bag over one shoulder. Was this a dream?

She held out her arms and said in a soft coo that sent wonderful sensations all through Tony, “There she is. My cute little baby girl.”

Tony leaned forward and crawled to the edge of the playpen. The woman was still there, and was still leaning forward with her arms out, as if she didn’t realize the playpen’s side was in the way.

“Come on, Toni!” she said encouragingly. “Just crawl a little bit further -- oh! Of course. We’re limited to just three spatial dimensions here. My bad!” She stepped over the playpen side a short distance away from Tony and tried again.

Tony wasn’t certain who she was or how she would have gotten into his apartment through some kind of special effect, unless this was just a dream, in which case he didn’t need to worry that she was some kind of dangerous psychopath. He turned to face her again and crawled toward her, though every movement reminded him that his bowels were churning because of the suppositories.

“There you go! Such a good girl,” she said in lilting musical tones, picking him up. She picked him up with amazing ease, which in Tony’s mind was more evidence that this was a dream or vision of some sort. “And still dry and clean!” she said, patting Tony’s thickly padded behind. “I’m guessing that won’t last long, though! I know how babies are.”

“W-who you?” he asked again, looking up at her from her arms.

“Oh my goodness!” she said. “Where are my manners? I’m Jane, and I’m your new Nana! You can call me Nana Jane, or Nana, or even Jane if you want. I’ve come to help you be the baby you really are -- and yes, I know that baby is a baby girl! And there is nothing whatsoever wrong with that, Sweetheart!”

“What’s going on?” he wondered aloud. “This has got to be a dream.”

“A dream come true?” asked Jane. “That’s my goal -- to make this seem like a daydream come to life for you. Did you know that Earth is the only planet we’ve ever seen where people like you who are just little babies inside aren’t accepted? We couldn’t stand to see that, so we’re here to help!”

Tony couldn’t believe what was happening. He knew in his soul this had to be a dream. He couldn’t think straight as this woman put the nipple of a bottle of warm milk in his mouth.

She cooed softly as she pressed on his tummy, “Be a good little girl and just go back to sleepy bye. I know this seems all strange. Nana Jane promises to insure you get to be the person you truly are.”

Tony couldn’t help but drink the warm milk, which tasted sweet and warmed his tummy. He felt so relaxed. His eyes fluttered closed as he continued to drink. Somewhere on the verge of sleep he could feel a wonderful tingling feeling go through his body in wave after wave of sensation, and … did his diaper feel different? He didn’t care. He was in bliss. He barely heard Nana Jane whisper, “Good girl.”

He awoke to the sensation of cool baby wipes on bare skin. He was lying on his back on a changing table, and Nana Jane was cleaning him up during the process of changing his … diaper? “Oh!” he said aloud. “I’m sorry!”

“Sorry for what, Sweetheart?” Nana Jane said in her musical singsong tones. “You’re a baby, and babies need their diapers … for everything … all the time … and it’s OK. Nana knows! Just focus on being a baby, and let Nana make it all right again.” She sprinkled powder all over his now-clean diaper area and on the fresh diaper, then expertly fastened it onto him before sliding a clean pair of plastic-lined rumba panties up his legs and over the diaper. This diaper was somehow thicker than his previous one and made crinkly noises at his slightest move.

“Just relax and be my baby,” she said. “For me. And for you. Please?” She picked him up again and rocked him in her arms.

“Mummbglmbrrgh,” Tony said, mostly because he was falling asleep and couldn’t form actual words.

“There’s a good girl. You can talk in baby words all you want. Nana understands. Let’s put you down in your crib for a little nap.”

The next thing Tony knew he was waking up in a crib. He was in a footed sleeper and couldn’t see how it was fastened -- probably up the back -- with sleeves that ended in padded mittens, and there was a pacifier in his mouth. He had no idea what time of day or night it was. But his diaper was soaking wet, and he had no recollection of when that had happened.

“Baby Tony is awake,” said Nana Jane. “I know she’s allll wet and needs a change! Let’s get her into a new diaper.”

“But … I … wha’ time issit?” he asked as she picked him up out of the crib and unzipped the legs of his sleeper.

“Oh, it’s still the middle of the night,” she said. “But you don’t need to worry your head about it! I’m here for you.”

“I jus’ … gotta go ta work in the morning,” said Tony as she laid him on the changing table again.

“Oh, I see,” said Nana Jane. “This is a planet with a scarcity economy. Well, don’t you worry, Nana will see that you get there on time, all ready for your day.”

“Oh, OK,” he said. “Just as long as, you know, when the alarm clock goes off …” He was sure that this dream would be over when he heard that alarm.

“When it goes off, we’ll get you all ready …” She had his diaper changed already, and she zipped the legs of his sleeper back up and carried him back to the crib.

He almost didn’t want the alarm to go off and this dream to end …

Tony was wakened by this new Nana. She expertly removed all his clothing before picking him up and setting him in a very warm and bubbly bassinet shaped tub. Tony had no clue where that tub had come from, but he was very glad to have someone actually bathing him like he was a baby.

Nana cooed softly. Each wonderful tone of the coo sent massively wonderful chills all through Tony. His mind wandered off somewhere pretty and full of soft fuzzy things. He heard a wonderful voice that kept telling him over and over what a pretty little girl he was.

His mind came sharply into focus. Tony looked around. His room now looked like a little girl’s nursery, not his bedroom. The Nana was bent over holding open a really cute and lacy pair of girl’s pull-ups just his size.

Nana cooed softly, “Step in your panties sweetie, so I can dress you for work.”

Tony gasped, “Wait a minute, I have to go to work!” as he looked around and saw a cute Snuggle Bug romper with lots of ruffles hung on the side of the crib.

“That’s right, Sweetie,” she said, “and you can’t go to work all nakey! Come on, step into your panties.” He just couldn’t resist that musical tone of hers and did so, but continued to object.

“Th-they don’t know about -- me -- at work,” he said, as she pulled the lacy, thick pull-ups up around him and straightened them out so they were nice and snug.

“It’s true,” she said, “this planet doesn’t accept babies who happen to be older than baby age. That’s hardly fair, is it? Don’t you think it’s time that changed?”

“Well -- I mean -- I guess it would be nice not having to hide it, but --”

“But it’s going to be difficult, isn’t it?” She pulled the romper over his head and helped his arms into the sleeves. “But I’m here to help! Won’t it be better if you have help?”

“I’m -- wait -- I’m starting to think you’re not a dream,” he said as she snapped the romper closed between his legs.

“Of course I’m not a dream, silly,” said Nana Jane. “Now, will that be warm enough? Hmm.”

“The office dress code is business casual,” he said. “That means business shirts and slacks for guys and business shirts or nice tops and skirts or slacks for girls.”

“Oh, good, then,” she said. “We’ll just do this.” She took out a puffy-sleeved white blouse with pink lacy highlights and a pastel pink pleated skirt with a subtle heart motif. She had these on him before he even knew what was happening.

“What?” he asked. “I can’t be seen in this!” He looked in the mirror. “I … I’ll look … like …”

“A girl?” she asked. “But you ARE a girl. Aren’t you?”

“I … well … I … umm …”

“A trans girl is still a girl, right? This planet is at least THAT far along; I know that for certain.”

“But I … they don’t know …”

“Well, I think it’s time they found out, don’t you?” She was extremely positive and bubbly about this prospect. Tony wasn’t. “Besides, you’ve got my help, and you can always count on that. I’ll be watching. I’ll be here fixing up the place, but if you need me I’ll be there in a wink.”

“I don’t want to cause a disruption or distract the others …”

“Now now, if someone else causes a problem, it’ll be they who are causing the distraction, not you,” said Nana Jane, “and I’ll make sure of that.”

Tony was tucked lovingly into a pram and the top pulled over. Tony had no idea where any of the new items had come from, all he knew was that woman was pushing him to his job.

It wasn’t long before he saw Debbie the receptionist leaning over and cooing softly, “You make just the most adorable babydoll.”

Several others had gathered around making similar comments. “Wait, what’s going on?” asked Tony. “You’re not looking surprised or shocked at all.” But nobody explained.

From out of the CEO’s office came a well dressed man -- Mr. Hendrik, who ran the company. He said with a snort, “So, this is the person you found to be our company mascot?” He walked over and took a long severe look at Tony. He finally said in a gruff tone, “Well, I do have to admit she turned out a whole lot better than I thought.”

“I’m going nuts,” said Tony. “That’s the only possible explanation.” He was starting to panic.

“Everybody back to work,” said Mr. Hendrik. “I won’t put up with lost productivity, even if we do have the most adorable company mascot ever.”

“I’m not the company mascot, I’m the --” Tony protested and then realized that he was soaking his diaper uncontrollably right there and then.

“I’ll get her settled in, Mr. Hendrik,” said Debbie. “She’s usually wet by the time she comes in.”

“U-usually?” Tony asked, confused. “But this never happened before!”

“Good, good,” said Mr. Hendrik. “I’ll leave her to you, Debbie. You’re so good with her anyway.”

“Mom always said I was good with kids,” said Debbie. “Come on, Toni, let’s get you all set for the morning.”

“But -- wait -- I don’t understand --” stammered Tony, but Debbie quickly had him out of the stroller and onto … a changing table that was where his desk used to be? There was a playpen right next to it. How had Debbie lifted him up? While he was pondering these questions she had quickly placed a large pacifier in his mouth and was going about the business of removing his wet diaper and cleaning him off with baby wipes from the well stocked changing table.

“Some powder so you smell allll nice, then upsie daisy!” Debbie somehow held his legs in the air so as to slip a fresh diaper under his powdered bottom, then lowered him back down and fastened the new diaper on quite snugly. It was just as thick and crinkly as the one that Nana Jane had put on him. Debbie put a fresh pair of plastic-lined rumba panties on him -- where had these come from? -- and then lifted him up and deposited him in the playpen. “Now, you just play until naptime, OK Toni? That’s a good girl!” She smiled down at him and went about her business.

“But … I don’t understand what’s going on!” Tony complained, but nobody paid the slightest bit of attention to anything he said. It was as if all they heard truly was no more than the babbles of a baby. Everyone went about their business as normal, ignoring him, except occasionally one of his coworkers would look at him and smile, but not in any malicious way -- it was just the smile that one would give to a cute baby girl as one passed by. Debbie looked in on him now and then, smiling and waving. Tony tried playing with the toys in the playpen but quickly got bored and fell asleep.

Tony was awakened when Nana had shifted him in her arms to allow the large bottle of warm milk to flow better. Tony was almost helpless as he nursed.

Nana looked down and smiled, “Baby Toni will never have to worry herself about adult things again. I promise. From now on, everyone will only see the cute adorable little baby girl you have dreamed of being. See? Nana told baby she would make everything all right.”

Tony almost drowned when he attempted to speak. Nana took this in stride, threw a soft towel over one shoulder, then laid Tony across it. She began to softly pat Tony on the back. Each pat was like a wonderful surge all the way until it exploded in his mind … OMG!! Tony realized he had spit up just like a baby.

Nana patted his thickly diaper bottom as she cooed, “That’s a good little girl. Soon, all you will ever be is this little girl. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“All taken care of,” said Nana Jane. “You don’t have to worry your little head about any of that. The world as you know it has changed. Now go back to work and I’ll see you at lunchtime.” She set him back down in the playpen, patted him on the head and walked away. Nobody else in the office paid any attention to her either.

Tony looked around the playpen. There were a lot of soft blocks, and plushies, and … what was that? It was … his smart phone! Somehow it was here. He certainly hadn’t had a chance to pick it up as Nana Jane had bundled him up and brought him to work that morning. He turned it on, switched it to privacy mode, and looked at one of the adult baby forums that he followed online.

He discovered that without exception, everyone he knew was talking about the amazing experiences they had been having after the arrival of a mysterious caregiver into their lives. Even the ones who were in committed relationships remarked that the appearance of the new Nana had made things much easier for their partner, but they were all mystified about the sudden appearances of all of these Nanas, seemingly from out of thin air. Tony posted about his experiences too.

“... and I woke up to find her here at work feeding me another bottle, then she left me in this playpen. How weird is this?” he concluded his post.

Another forum member he often talked to named Laynie1234 replied shortly, “I know, what is going on? I already posted about this Nana Yolanda person who has shown up and turned my life upside down. I hope my boyfriend doesn’t just up and walk out on me with all this weirdness, but I feel so helpless.”

Soon it was lunchtime, and Nana came back to take him to the break room, where there was a high chair set up -- at this point nothing surprised Tony anymore. She put a bib on him, fastening the snaps behind his neck, and began feeding him. Lots of baby food got all over his face, and some on his bib, and the other employees awwed and cooed about how cute the “baby girl” was. Then Nana Jane cleaned him up, changed his diaper and put him back into the playpen for the afternoon.

Tony somehow found the baby toys more interesting but still fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon,

When Nana came to get him at the end of the day, everyone at the office waved bye-bye to the baby girl and said they’d see “her” tomorrow. She brought him home to a transformed apartment. Everything was baby proofed and decorated just as if a baby lived here -- and no one else. “Now play until your supper is ready,” said Nana, placing him in his playpen with his laptop computer, where he looked at the ABDL forums and caught up on the latest news. None of the news websites had any specific stories about a sudden invasion of Nanas from another dimension, but there were offhand mentions of what was going on -- there had been an auto accident, and the article said, “Fortunately, neither the woman, 33, nor her 34-year-old baby were harmed.”

Tony realized suddenly that Nana had turned off his computer and picked him up to her shoulder. Each pat of his thickly diapered bottom sent wonderful electrical rushes all through his body causing it to be almost impossible to think.

Next thing Tony realized, he was sitting on a pile of pillows in nothing but a thick crawly diaper, rumba panties, and booties. A man was saying in a sing song voice, “Now, be a good little girl and watch the birdie.” as he dangled a fuzzy bird toy in front of him.

Tony looked up for an instant just in time for a very bright flash.

Nana clapped her hands and cooed happily, “That picture is just perfect. Captured my baby in her most infant.”

“Huh?” Tony asked. “Picture?”

But the photographer was speaking to Nana as if he had just taken a picture of the cutest baby girl ever. “Yes, she was a perfect angel. These will turn out great, I guarantee it! Here are some digital previews.”

Nana showed Tony the digital proofs of the pictures. He was totally floored. All he saw were pictures of the most adorable little girl he could think of posed in some very precious ways with Teddy Bears, Snow Leopards, and soft fluffy pink Unicorn dolls. But … he wondered how this could be. He was still nearly six feet long … he hadn’t stood up straight for some time now, but he was still using an overlarge stroller and an extra-big child seat in the back of the car. The camera must be applying some kind of special effects.

Nana gathered Tony up and began putting his hands and head through the proper openings in a cute little sundress, “There we go, sweetheart.” Nana kissed Tony on his nose, “You are such a good girl. Would baby like some ice cream and sprinkles?”

Tony didn’t exactly know what happened. It was like the most amazing question ever asked. “ICE CREAM! OMG!!” Tony screeched with joy as he clapped his hands together and bounced up and down.

Of course, Nana had to feed the ice cream to him, which meant lots of cold ice cream melting on his nose and chin. Some of it got inside him, though, and it was the most delicious thing ever, even though he knew it was just soft-serve ice cream from the mall food court. But some kind of sensory alchemy transformed its flavor, as if he had never tasted it before.

At the mall, he saw one or two other babies that were larger than normal. He saw a boy in a stroller wearing dark blue overalls and a yellow shirt across the food court, being pushed along by a man in navy pants and a white button-down shirt. Tony made noises and waved at the baby, who looked at him with wide eyes and waved back, struggling as if trying to get out of the stroller and come over. The man pushing the stroller smiled and pushed the stroller toward them.

“Oh, hello, Nate,” said Nana Jane to the man in blue and white. “Is this Baby Troy?” she asked, bending down to smile at the boy in the stroller.

“You’re a baby too!” Tony said to Troy.

“So are you!” said Troy. “I thought I was the only one until I saw some others here at the mall!”

“I saw some others online too!” said Tony. “But … why? I don’t understand! Where are all these Nanas coming from all of a sudden? And how do they do … what they do?”

“I dunno,” said Troy, “but Nana Nate built a funny kind of satellite dish thing on top of my house. Is there one on yours?”

“I live in an apartment, so I dunno,” said Tony. “Maybe up on the roof, but I’m sure Nana Jane won’t let me go up there.”

“Oh, you’re trans, that’s OK,” said Troy. “I guess you suddenly sleep in a crib and need diapers and are starting to act more like a baby? ‘Cause I am.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Tony, blushing, as his diaper was soaking wet by this time. “I don’t think I have any control over my bladder anymore.”

“Me either, and I think I’m losing control over when I poop too,” Troy said. “Did you notice that we’re not really speaking English?”

Tony blinked, startled. Now that he thought about it, what Troy had said to him was a mish-mash of broken English words and nonsense syllables, yet he understood it just fine. “How …?”

“Obviously they can do something to our brains -- and everyone else’s,” said Troy. “I’m kinda scared, but … to be honest, part of me also likes it. In a way it’s a dream come true. But also I don’t have a choice, and I don’t like that part.”

“Yeah I know what you mean,” said Tony. “In fact …”

“Well, it’s time for us to go home,” said Nana Jane loudly. “It was good to catch up with you, Nate, and I’m glad everything’s going well! Come on, Baby Toni, time to get my baby girl changed and ready for bed!”

Nana bathed and dressed Tony for bed. After she placed him in his crib, she began to pat his hinney softly as she hummed a lullabye. Each pat, each soft tone of the lullabye did something to him inside. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he began to feel so … free. All his cares melted away into a large contented haze … then he came fully awake and sat up.

The room was dimly lit by stickys placed around the room at different strategic locations. He could see unicorns, cute little dragons, and even stars and a full moon with a happy face. All glowing softly and filling the room with its glow.

He knew time had passed, although he wasn’t sure of how much. It was true, this was a dream come true … although none were given the choice.

Tony began to look for a way out of the crib. No matter how he fumbled with the simple looking lever latch to the side rail, he couldn’t seem to figure it out. In frustration, Tony began to climb over the side rails. I mean, after all, he was an … a …. Ummm … oh yeah …. A toddler girl. Should be big enough for panties and not diapers. He started to suck his thumb in determination. Then realized he had something else on his mind … something about … choice?

“Oh my goodness!” said Nana Jane, coming into the bedroom … although perhaps “nursery” might be a better word for it now. She saw Tony cresting the top of the crib side and quickly caught him. “No no, we don’t want Baby to hurt herself! If you want out, just ask Nana and she will get Baby out! It’s OK!” She checked his diaper. “Goodness, let’s get you changed!”

As Tony lay on the changing table, he asked, “Nana? Where did you come from?”

“Well …” said Nana Jane as she was cleaning Tony’s skin, “you’re probably too young to understand …” Tony was sometimes feeling as if she was right -- his mind sometimes felt like it was getting younger; he sometimes felt captivated by the children’s programs she put on the TV or the baby toys in his playpen. “But you can probably tell … I’m not from this planet. We’re not here to cause any harm, though! We’re here to help babies like you. And the fact is that some of us are babies too! See?” She lifted up the hem of her dress to briefly reveal that she was wearing a diaper, just like Tony. “Not all of us, but my point is that it’s OK for me to be a baby, just like it’s OK for you to be one.”

“So why aren’t you being one?” asked Tony. “Why are you being a Nana insead?”

“Well, we saw that this planet wasn’t treating you well,” said Nana Jane. “We talked about it and decided to do something to help. It’s truly terrible that Earth society doesn’t accept so many harmless differences in humans. With all the planets we’ve seen, this is the only one that’s this intolerant.”

“So … you chose not to be a baby for a while,” said Tony, “making the sacrifice so you could help us.”

“Yes, and I can tell what you’re saying,” said Nana Jane, fastening Tony’s new diaper on securely. “I guess I didn’t really let you make a choice, did I? But that was kind of on purpose. Now you know what you can have and what I can do to make it happen for you. I’m perfectly willing to be your Nana for as long as you need me. Trust me -- we live a lot longer than you do. What you call a century is virtually nothing to us.”

“So … wow,” said Tony. “I … don’t know what to say. I can literally live my dream.” He thought about his job, which he really only had to pay his bills; he didn’t see himself having a career working at the same company his whole life. “But … I have friends, and a family. I don’t want to be isolated from everything I’ve known my whole life just so I can indulge my fantasies.”

“I see,” said Nana Jane, “but you don’t have to be. All you have to do is show your family who you really are. And it’s the same with your friends. Although if they reject you, as I’m sure you’re afraid will happen, they weren’t really your friends to begin with. Friends like that don’t really like you -- they like an imaginary picture of what they think you’re like, a picture that only exists in their heads. You can make new friends, ones who are OK with your being a baby or are even babies themselves.”

“But my family -- I can’t trade them in for new family members,” Tony objected.

“It’s a two-way street,” Nana Jane said, carrying Tony into the living room and setting him down on the rug while she sat down in a rocking chair that hadn’t been there just a few days ago. “Your family can’t get rid of you either. Not really. They can try to ignore you, but you’ll still exist. And some of them will accept you, I’m sure. Others will, but will take more time.”

“How do you know all this?” asked Tony.

“I’m in contact with all the other Nanas, all over Earth,” she replied. “That’s how it’s working for all of them.”

In a softly lit little girl’s room, Eyes opened suddenly and focused. Tony had no clue what had happened or how he got to where he was. Last thing he remembered was trying to show the Nana about choice. It dawned on him that he really had no choice in being a baby girl. This was what the Nana had tried to tell him before the .. blackout, for want of any better thing to call it.

Tony sat up and began to suck his thumb thoughtfully. Several of the plushy toys in his crib tugged at his fascination with snuggle toys. The huge blue teddy bear was almost too much … Tony managed to turn his mind away from that to another thought he was having.

What if … tha Nana’s wuz here ta invade Earth … not fulfill fantasies. A small shiver of fear ran down his spine as this thought bounced around in his head like a dried pea in a metal pot.

By the time Nana had set him down in front of the T.V. displaying the last of the evening news, that was when Tony realized another truth: From the way the other people he saw acted and reacted, the whole planet was subjugated … although nothing that could be defined …

Nana had come in with a large bottle of warm milk. She laid Tony all snuggled in a large pillow with another propped beside him. The nipple of the bottle was in his mouth and the bottle propped on the pillow. Tony had almost forgotten what he was thinking by the time Nana had returned and burped him, then changed his wet diaper.

No, he really had no choice in being a baby girl, as he’d wanted to be one for as long as he could remember, going all the way back to his early childhood. That wasn’t made up. Tony was blissfully sucking on his pacifier and cuddling the blue Teddy Bear, thinking about this. Was there anywhere else he’d rather be? Being able to express the baby girl inside him had always been his greatest hidden desire. But not alone. His desire had always been to be able to be himself, or herself rather, openly and in public … which, if Nana Jane was to be believed, was possible on many other planets, just not Earth.

Tony began to feel sleepy … and then was out like a light. In his dreams he was a baby girl, not just in how he was dressed and addressed, but also in size and body. Every minute of every day in his dream, his world was that of a baby girl -- perhaps not as stereotypically feminine as it would have been in decades past, with frilly dresses and dolls and pink everywhere, but still, with longer hair in cuter hairstyles, with hair decorations, with more color variety in clothes, with cowboy and military toys nowhere to be seen, and frankly with a lot more ponies. There were still dinosaurs, though. Nearly every child loves dinosaurs. She was called by feminine pronouns at all times, she was complimented for being pretty and adorable rather than handsome and tough, and everything had decorations on it instead of being purely utilitarian. Then … she woke up.

She felt different. Something had happened, and at first Toni couldn’t put her finger on it. Her body hadn’t changed. She was still the same size. Her dream had just been a dream. But … then she realized that there had been a subtle but profound shift in her identity. The person she had always dreamed of being felt as if it were within reach.

She wondered what to do, as the early morning sunlight streamed in through the window and into her crib. But then she realized how uncomfortable her soaked, messy diaper was, and she realized what any baby, boy or girl, would do. She started to cry. At first just tears came, but then she started to wail and sob, louder and louder, feeling the catharsis of decades of repression lift from her shoulders. Nana Jane was in her nursery quickly, lifting her up, holding her, rocking her, comforting her.

After a quick change of diaper and a dressing in a cute lavender flutter sundress and plastic lined rumba panties, Nana cooed softly, “There, there, sweetheart, now Nana’s little girl is all clean, dry, and adorable.” She hugged Toni lovingly as she patted her bottom.

Each pat on Tony’s bottom sent massively wonderful rushes all through his body to finally culminate as an all consuming infantile contentedness. Tony finally managed to come almost to his right mind for a little bit.

Toni knew if he didn’t find a way to get this under control, he was really going to … a loving pat with a quick spin around interrupted whatever she was thinking. All she could do as Nana twirled her around was screech with unadulterated glee.

Nana smiled. She knew her baby was fighting the conversion process, but she also knew the dear wouldn’t be able to function pretending to be an adult all the time. So this was a good thing. Besides, in just a very little while, all the secret babies on this entire planet would be set free.

Deep underground in some type of bunker that looked for the world like a survival establishment, many men and women bent over a tactical board.

A man in uniform with 5 stars arranged in a pentagon on each shoulder board said in a gruff voice, “What ever this is seems to have affected several million of the world’s population.”

Another man with golden eagles on his shoulder boards replied, “From what I can tell, almost a third of the population has been affected by what ever this is.”

A soft murmur went round the room.

Another man with 2 silver bars on his shoulder boards said, “Is this some kind of invasion or something?”

“I think there’s little doubt that it is,” said the man with the 5-star insignia. “The only question is precisely what kind.”

“It seems to have suddenly affected every corner of the globe at the same moment,” said an analyst, looking intently at her computer screen. “And there were no radar contacts, no bogeys reported by any aircraft pilots, and not even any reports of lights in the sky at that moment.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the man with the 5 stars, “we’re dealing with a Scenario 7. Either there are orbital vessels we can’t detect, or they have a means of travel that isn’t distance dependent.”

“The saving grace,” said the man with the golden eagles, “is that they don’t seem bent on destruction or even global domination. It seems more of a … transformation that they’re after.”

“And at this point …” said the man with the silver bars, “it doesn’t seem as if there’s anything we can do to stop it.”

“There, there,” said Nana Jane to Toni, who was crying and sniffling a bit, “it’s OK. I know what’s wrong. You’re all lonely, aren’t you? Your friends and family haven’t gotten to see you for a few days, and you think they’ll reject you once they do see you.” She rocked Toni in her arms and patted her thickly diapered bottom.

“They … they … never knew I was a baby,” sobbed Toni, “let alone a girl … and you never even letted me tell them.”

“I’m sorry, Little One, I really am,” said Nana Jane, “but you’ll see. Soon I’ll fix it. Soon we’ll take you to see them, and we’ll fix everything.” On the roof of the apartment building, the energy transducer she had installed was nearing fully charged, absorbing energy from this world’s star and from cosmic rays that impacted this planet from all over its universe. There was nearly enough energy for the next phase.

Toni just about came back to her right mind long enough to realize Nana had dressed her in a cute flutter sundress and matching rumba panties, put her in the stroller, and was wheeling her down Ferriway Street. It dimly dawned on her that less than a block from here was her parents’ house. She didn’t quite think about the fact that they still saw her as a boy, something she felt less and less like every day, not to mention an adult.

Nana leaned over the top of the stroller and jiggled a rattle in front of Toni. Her eyes got big as all thoughts vanished except for that wonderful rattly thingy Nana held out. Toni reached as far as she could for it with both hands.

Nana giggled, “Here you go, Sweetheart. Nana can’t have you thinking too many adult thoughts. You are about to meet your family, and Nana wants you to be a good baby girl … OK? Sweetheart?”

Nana tucked the small baby blanket around Toni and made her more comfy as she rounded the last bend in the sidewalk. Toni’s parents’ house stood on the huge corner lot at the end.

The door opened a few moments after the doorbell rang, and there stood Toni’s father. “Hello … oh. Oh my … I was afraid it was going to be something like this.”

“Good evening, Mr. Howard,” said Nana Jane. “As I said on the telephone device yesterday, Toni has decided to come forward to you, his loved ones, about a few things that he’d been keeping a secret for a very long time -- or rather, that she had been.”

“I … don’t know what to say,” said Toni’s father. “It’s … well, other parents we know have been dealing with their kids coming out as gay or trans or whatever. But this … I’ve been hearing about it going on all over the world all of a sudden, but to have it happen to my own son …”

“Mr. Howard, the child you thought was your son has really been your daughter all along,” said Nana Jane.

“Well, I thought I’d raised a son,” said Toni’s father. “Does this mean he’ll be dating men now?”

Nana Jane said, “I think she’s far too young to start dating, Mr. Howard. Would you mind if we came inside?”

“Oh. Oh!” said Toni’s mother. “I’m sorry. Andy, we should let them in so we can close the door. We’re letting the heat out.” Andy moved aside wordlessly, and Nana Jane pushed Toni’s stroller easily over the threshold.

“I’ll just make sure the wheels are clean,” said Nana Jane, “so I don’t track dirt on your carpets.” She quickly cleaned the stroller wheels with something that looked like a baby wipe.

Toni’s mother was looking down at the person she’d thought was her son but who was now looking a great deal like her daughter. “He’s … I mean she’s … I’m sorry, but this is difficult.”

“Of course it’s difficult, Sonia,” said Andy. “It goes against everything we’ve thought about him since he was born. And I can’t be sure it’s really his choice. He hasn’t said a word since we opened the door. Is he hypnotized? Drugged? Who are you, anyway, Ma’am? What have you done to our son?”

“As I said on the phone, my name is Jane, and I’m Toni’s Nana. I’m here to help her and others like her to be who they really are. And she’s not drugged or hypnotized.” Nana Jane left out the fact that although Toni wasn’t hypnotized strictly speaking, she was in a mental state somewhat similar to what humans called hypnosis, but not the same.

“M-Mama,” said Toni uncertainly. “I --”

“Oh, my baby,” said Sonia. “It’s like … seeing you as a baby all over again.”

Andy interrupted, “No, no it isn’t, because when he was a baby, he was a boy.”

“I was afraid you’d react something like this, Sir,” said Nana Jane. “This takes a great deal of energy to perform. But you must see.”

“What are you --” Andy began, but then his eyes grew wide, transfixed on a distant point. He froze in place.

“No! What did you do to him?” Sonia demanded. “Andy!”

Nana Jane explained, “He is merely experiencing some highlights of what it was like to be Toni, growing up with Mr. Howard as a father.”

“I … have to sit down,” said Andy after a few seconds. He sat down.

“What do you mean, ‘what it was like to grow up with Andy as a father?’” Sonia asked Nana Jane with a frown. “Andy was a kind, loving father!”

“Toni … wasn’t a boy,” said Andy, “no matter what we thought … she really did want to be a princess for Halloween that one time … she really did want to get that dress for back-to-school … she really did want bright colors and pretty jewelry and she wanted to learn to dance … and every single time we told her no, you’re wrong, that’s not what you want, you’re making a mistake …”

“Oh … my …” said Sonia with her hands over her mouth. “I remember those things …”

“Every time she tried to express herself, we refused … and then there was that time she got to spend two weeks in the city with your sister … she was the most herself she’d ever been allowed to be … but then she came home, remember? And she was in that sparkly thing …”

“That white top with the gold sequins,” said Sonia, “wearing lip gloss that Sandra got her, and those jeans, and those shoes … she looked just like a girl …”

“And what did I do … I demanded she wash everything off her face, I threw all those clothes away, I laid down the law, I said she was never going to be alone with your sister again … and she turned to you for help …”

“... and … I took your side,” said Sonia, tears streaming down her face. “You were right, or I thought so, but you were wrong …” She turned to Nana Jane. “Show me what you showed him!” she demanded. “I won’t let him go through this alone. If we were wrong, I want to know how wrong.”

Nana Jane said, “As you wish,” and Sonia collapsed onto the couch with the impact of the memories that were streaming into her brain.

“Mommy an’ Daddy be OK?” asked Toni from her stroller.

“Yes, Sweetheart,” said Nana Jane. “Nana just has to make sure they know what they did.”

“Oh no,” Sonia said. “I used to shame her so for wetting her pants or the bed … it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t help it … she was trying so hard for us, but she just wasn’t ready yet … if we’d only waited a few months … we made her so miserable for no reason … it’s so clear now … we made it so clear that this was what life was like for boys …”

“She was already a girl,” said Nana Jane. “You just made it even more clear that a boy wasn’t something she wanted to be. And then you took away her choice.”

“I’m … sorry, Toni,” said Andy, looking at his daughter with tears in his eyes. “You’re right. We were wrong. But we still want to be your parents, don’t we, Sonia?” Sonia nodded immediately.

Nana Jane looked down at Toni. Her head suddenly felt clear; Nana Jane had removed the mental dampening field that had been preventing her from getting upset at letting her parents see her like this. She looked at her parents and said. “It’s OK now. I can be a girl now like I always wanted to be. I’m going to be a girl all the time. Sometimes I’m going to be a baby, because I need to be, but I’ll always be a girl, just as I’ve always been, really.”

“We’ll be happy to call you our daughter,” said Sonia. “I’m so sorry, Dear.”

“What are we gonna do about the rest of the family?” Andy asked. “Your sister’s been practically cut out of our lives since back then. We should apologize to her. Your parents …”

“They’ll be likely to accept this,” Sonia said, “considering they accepted that Sandra was gay a long time ago. Maybe we should take it slowly and not tell them about the baby part at first, just the trans part.”

“Yeah,” said Andy. “And then there’s my family. My dad won’t take it well. My mom … well, she’ll go along with whatever Dad says. They’re from another time. My brothers are going to be tough. They always went along with me in treating Toni as if she were a boy. My sister … I’m not sure. She married that conservative Christian guy, but then divorced him one year later, so she might not be a fan of that approach at least, but I don’t know.”

“I can help, if need be,” said Nana Jane. “And then there’s this. Toni, do you want to really be a girl, all the time? This takes even more energy, so I don’t want to do it unless you’re really sure -- and of course I wouldn’t do this to anyone against their will anyway. But I can make you a girl for real. Right here, right now.”

“What? What do you mean?” asked Andy. “How?”

“Nana Jane and her people aren’t … from around here,” said Toni. “I never wanted to be a boy, I never asked for it, and in fact I asked for the opposite many times. I don’t see any reason to say no. Could you please make me as I’ve always wanted to be?”

“As you wish, Sweetheart,” said Nana Jane. “Now just be very still so the systems can focus properly.”

Toni felt a strange mind-body disconnect; for a moment everything went black and it felt as if she were alone in a sea of darkness. But only for a moment, and then she was waking up as if from a deep sleep. “Wh -- what happened?” she asked, and her voice was now noticeably higher in pitch.

“I know it seemed quick, but actually your body’s been restructured on a molecular level,” explained Nana Jane. “Your DNA’s been adjusted, and your cells are reorganized to be as they would have been if you’d been, as you put it, as you’ve always wanted to be.”

“I … feel like a girl,” said Toni. “I … feel smaller … and … different …” Indeed, she was a good six inches shorter, which she could tell even sitting down in the stroller, and she could feel that her breasts had expanded, though not by a lot. Evidently she wasn’t hugely endowed in the chest department, but she’d never really wanted that anyway. She felt her throat and found no Adam’s apple there.

“You are a girl now, in every way,” said Nana Jane. “I can adjust things, but right now you’re as you would have been if you’d been born with what your medical science calls an XX in that 23rd chromosome pair instead of an XY.”

“Your … your face even looks different,” said Sonia, “not hugely different, but still, different enough. This is unbelievable,” said Sonia. “But if it’s true … I -- I’m going to have to tell you about a few things.”

Toni felt warm wetness spreading through her diaper, and as before there was nothing she could do to stop it. “I have no idea how this is all going to work,” she said. “I’m going to need to deal with diapers and -- what? Tampons, I guess, on those days?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Sonia said. “For right now … let me get you out of that stroller so I can finally hug my daughter.”

Deep underground, a very pretty young female lieutenant pulled up her lacy pullup panties and fastened her uniform pants on. She was so glad she could actually wear them and feel like a little girl on the inside while doing her big girl job for the military.

The room suddenly lit momentarily with a bluish-white flash. Lt. Janice Springfield spun around, to see what appeared to be an older matronly looking woman standing there with a large smile.

The matronly looking woman knelt down and held her arms out enticingly. She cooed softly as if speaking to a toddler, “Come to Nana, Baby Janice.” she said, wiggling her finger in a beckoning way. “Show Nana how well you can walk.”

Those soft words surged all through the young lieutenant like a wonderful jolt. She could feel a joy rising up within her that she had thought was long lost as she shrieked like a little girl, then toddled into the matronly woman’s arms.

Nana cooed softly as she patted the young lieutenant's bottom, “That’s a good baby girl. Now, Nana’s brought the proper clothes for a toddler like yourself.” And she proceeded to undress, then diaper and dress the young woman in a little elfette-style romper.

The Lt. Springfield who showed up for duty a few hours later had a completely different outlook -- as did everyone around her, to her surprise. “At ease, Lieutenant,” said Colonel Richmond after they saluted one another. “Now, let’s get this staff meeting under way. First of all, we’ve got a bottle for you waiting at your high chair by the table, and another one for Captain Colfield.” Janice saw one of her fellow officers already seated in a high chair, flanked by another matronly-looking woman who was fastening a bib on him. “We had been discussing a way to counter this strange influx of ‘Nanas’ around the world, but it appears we first need to get used to the fact that there are a lot more babies among us than we had thought at first. And that includes General Halifax, who will be joining us via teleconference.”

Around the world, men and women were revealing themselves as baby boys and girls -- some of them coming out with a new gender at the same time -- all accompanied by mysterious Nanas who seemed to have reality-bending powers. Those who disapproved at first were quickly delivered a mind-altering assault of memories and emotions that left them sympathetic to the plight of the new babies. As years passed, the Nana guardians remained with their charges, protecting and caring for them unswervingly, and as new babies were born, Nanas found them and guided them into a physical adulthood that nonetheless retained all the trappings of infancy.

Toni found a job doing what she liked doing best -- which was oddly similar to what she’d been doing before. She liked taking apart computers, copiers, and other electronics and putting them back in working order. Now, of course, she was female and had a much more positive self-image, and she was never far from her Nana, who would regularly feed her and change her diaper. Her parents supported her in her new life, and although her father’s family largely rejected her changes, her mother’s family was understanding. Her Aunt Sandra was happy that the rift between her and her sister had been healed. Overall, Toni’s life was far happier than it had been before. She became friends with Troy, but as Troy was interested in finding a boyfriend, he and Toni stayed just friends.

“The time will come when we will leave Earth to its own devices,” said Nana Jane.

“Of course,” said Nana Yolanda. “Once the new generation of babies has grown, we will begin to reduce our presence until they can stand on their own. But we will make sure that Earth’s changes are permanent.”

“Yes,” said Nana Nate. “Many aspects of Earth’s cultures have yet to fully adjust. But they will, in time. It will take but a tiny fraction of one of our people’s lifespans. And then … we will move on.”

“Very well,” said Nana Jane. “I move to adjourn this meeting of the Nana Patrol.”